Artist Descending a Staircase

The Globe Theatre's 2024 Season starts not with a bang, but a buzz and a thump (at the bottom of the stairs). When Tom Stoppard's Artist Descending a Staircase opens, it's 1972 and we're introduced to three elderly avant-garde artists, life-long friends and roommates. Donner lies dead at the bottom of the stairs. Was it Martello or Beauchamp who pushed him? The event has been recorded, so surely the evidence is clear.

Originally written and produced as a radio play, Stoppard adapted this "[i]ntricate and intriguing" (Daily Mail) piece for the stage in 1988. In The Globe's production of "Staircase", audiences can expect to experience an artfully and meticulously written series of flashbacks – to the 1920s and eventually 1914 - followed by a gradual return to the present day and our current predicament. You'll be treated to Tom Stoppard's brilliantly comedic flare brought to life. Donner still lies dead at the bottom of the stairs, but having peered into the lives of our artists, witnessing love won and lost in tragedy, do we see matters differently? Are we changed? Can we rely on our senses? On memory?

Wheelchair Access – We have one wheelchair accessible place available for each performance. Leave a note on your booking if this is required so that our box office team is made aware of it.